Making It | Peter McCaffrey of Mascot Studio

For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Mascot Studio.

Courtesy Peter McCaffrey.

Thirty years ago, artist Peter McCaffrey transitioned from painting his own pieces in a subterranean studio to operating a retail store. Mascot Studio, at 328 East Ninth Street, isn’t just any old frame shop: Mr. McCaffrey pays expert attention to the array of materials and textures that can enhance fine art. Add to that an annual dog show and you can see why the 250-square-foot space is such a little gem. We spoke to the owner about how the business is holding up post-Sandy.

Q.

How did Sandy affect things?

A.

I am feeling extremely lucky I didn’t suffer any physical damage or flooding. There is a concern about starting up and getting going again. My business deals with aesthetic and not necessary goods and services, which is not at the top of people’s priority list. I find myself asking how I will keep the ball rolling, but I think my saving grace will be the coming holidays.

Paul Mutimear

Q.

Are you worried that Sandy might have compromised your business in the long-term?

A.

I was already on the phone with creditors asking for more time and help with things to get through the last three years. I didn’t feel the recession until 2010. Also, it is my style to take things slowly. I don’t like to be hurried and like to take my time to do the best, most beautiful work possible. I take pride in that. Success might mean faster, bigger, less expensive, but you have to crank it out. That isn’t my temperament. I sell aesthetic and we are now in a survivalist mode.

Q.

How did you get your hands on this little space?

A.

I was in a basement space from 1982 until 1991 and then it became necessary for me to move to a street-level store so I could get more business. I couldn’t get enough people down in the space although I did get some attention when my picture window was written about in the “They Do Windows” column that was in the Village Voice.

Q.

What’s in your window now?

A.

Right now it’s a Noah’s Ark print that I’d kept after putting it up in 2005 after Katrina. It’s Noah reaching out from land to a dove carrying an olive branch. It’s a hopeful image and I think appropriate after Sandy.

Courtesy Peter McCaffrey.

Q.

How did you get into framing?

A.

When I was a teenager I took a job in my hometown helping a framer in a factory setting making frames for high-end places. I didn’t like it but I learned what I needed to learn. Then I managed a shop on the Upper East Side and Upper West Side for a couple of years until I started my own business in 1982.

Q.

Why did you choose to set up shop in the East Village?

A.

It’s my neighborhood. It’s where I live, and it’s nice to work where you live. You get the community. Having a shop, I am the doorman in a way of the building. I accommodate friends and neighbors and take people’s mail and packages for them.

Q.

That’s such a nice old-school feeling.

A.

Yeah, it is a nice thing. In some ways, I don’t feel my role here will live on here much longer. But there is definitely a resurgence and care for handcrafted. In some ways I feel out of the times. All the stores around me sell clothing now. I’m one of the only decorative, handcrafted shops left.

Courtesy Peter McCaffreySkull in window.

Q.

What is your lease situation?

A.

I am in a three-year lease and in year two. If all works out I would like to sign again, but this is a tentative time now with money, the economy and the hurricane. I am thinking maybe it’s time for a life change.

Q.

How has your rent changed since 1991?

A.

I started at $800 a month and it has more than tripled.

Q.

How much do frames go for?

A.

I offer small ready-made frames from barn wood and tabletop kind of things in the $25 to $50 range. Custom frames starts at $75 to $100 for a basic frame and go up to gold carat leaf frames, which reach into the hundred of dollars. I have hard wood and eco-friendly frames. Metal section frames are popular in this economy and they have nicer finishes now so I don’t mind working with them as much. They appeal a lot to students because they are affordable.

Q.

While frames are the main part of your business, you also sell your work as well as the work of others.

A.

I am still painting. I am a working artist. I have my work showing in the John Davis Gallery upstate. Right now I am selling a 30th anniversary commemorative print of a fox I did.

Q.

Any celebrity clientele?

A.

Susan Sarandon bought some Christmas ornaments and a watercolor. Kurt Anderson touted me as one of his favorite places in the East Village in a Village Voice article once. Alan Cummings and his husband come in a lot. I just framed some stuff for them for an Obama benefit they hosted. Elizabeth Moss brought in old baby pictures for me to help her with and bought a few things. There are lots of chefs and artists and actors who come in.

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The Local was a journalistic collaboration designed to reflect the richness of the East Village, report on its issues and concerns, give voice to its people and create a space for our neighbors to tell stories about themselves. It was operated by the students and faculty of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, in collaboration with The New York Times, which provides supervision to ensure that the blog remains impartial, reporting-based, thorough and rooted in Times standards. Read more »